The $200 Question

So Apple took the unprecedented step of lowering the price of the iPhone by $200 to $400. Folks, that's a 33 percent price drop, and when you combine that with the fact that the iPhone has only been out for two months, I mean... My God. It's kind of insane.

My opinion on this is that the iPhone isn't selling as well as Apple would like. You just don't drop prices that aggressively so quickly. Ever. Especially when you own mindshare like white owns rice. Especially when you're the company that can do no wrong. Today's iPod announcements would have been incredible without the iPhone price drop.

But that's just an opinion. The question, of course, is this: Does this price cut screw the early adopters? You know, the people who actually waited in line, like lemmings, to get an overpriced gadget that will eventually sell millions of copies. The people who would pay anything for any product Apple cares to sell. The fanatics.

Or, is Apple just doing The Right Thing (tm) and moving quickly to overcome what has clearly been the iPhone's biggest complaint? (Well, after EDGE. And that virtual keyboard. And the weird recessed headphone jack. And the insane international roaming bills. And... well, you get the idea.)

I gave the iPhone a 3/5 rating in my recent review, and while I stand by that, I know that a lot of the Apple fans feel differently about this trendsetting product. Does this price cut change anything? Did you just get screwed?

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